MONROE - Residents living in the Regency at Monroe active adult community want to know how much longer they will have to wait before traffic signals installed four months ago at high-volume intersections near their complex will be activated.

But there is no activation date. Middlesex County and town officials said they are urging the developer and utility companies to get the work done as soon as possible.

And as residents wait for their safety concern to be addressed, they are worried about the possibility of additional accidents, similar to the one Jan. 13 that seriously injured a married couple.

The husband and his wife, both believed to be in their late 60s or early 70s, were injured in a car accident at the intersection of Spotswood-Englishtown Road and Mount Mills Road. The woman suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung, while the husband suffered a broken leg. They remain hospitalized, according to the complex's board president.

The county road intersection is one of two where the traffic lights were installed but not activated. The other is Mount Mills Road and Old Bridge-Englishtown Road.

Regency at Monroe, located on Country Club Drive, has about 2,000 residents age 55 living in single-family homes with clubhouse, golf, tennis and other amenities. Mount Mills Road and Old Bridge-Englishtown Road, and Mount Mills Road and Spotswood-Englishtown Road, are the primary county roads used by Regency at Monroe residents.

In a letter to the county last fall before the traffic signals were installed, the homeowners association complained with only stop signs on Mount Mills Road, drivers race down Spotswood-Englishtown Road. In addition, turning at Mount Mills Road and Old Bridge-Englishtown Road is almost impossible without a traffic signal, forcing some residents to bypass local businesses in the area.

The Regency at Monroe Homeowners Association Board of Trustees, headed by Board President Stuart Goldstein, sent a second letter Tuesday to Middlesex County Administrator John Pulomena about the situation.

"Last weekend another one of our residents were seriously injured as they attempted to drive through the intersection at Mount Mills and Englishtown-Spotswood Road. These folks are still hospitalized and the community is in an uproar," the board's letter states.

According to the letter everyone was pleased when work to install the traffic lights began, but four months later, they are still inoperable.

"This situation is truly unacceptable. The accident last weekend is indicative of the threat our residents have faced the past several years. Trying to cross the intersection without a traffic light and a 45 mph speed limit on Englishtown-Spotswood Road is like playing Russian roulette with a car," the letter states. "The delay in activating these traffic lights is ignoring the dangers our residents face every day they leave their homes. We believe the county government can do better."

"The traffic light under construction on Spotswood-Englishtown Road (County Route 613) and Mount Mills Road is a much-needed intersection improvement in Monroe Township," according to a statement from county and township officials. "The county and township have been actively pressing the developer and the utility companies, who are responsible for the physical construction, to complete the project as quickly as possible."

Regarding the intersection at Old Bridge-Englishtown Road (County Route 527) and Mount Mills Road, the county and township in November executed an agreement to design and construct intersection improvements, the statement said.

The board members asked that their letter be shared with the Middlesex County Board of Freeholders and that they get a response from the freeholder board on steps taken to expedite the activation of the traffic light.